Bars, restaurants hope to draw more business during sports events

Downcounty sports bars are getting ready for the fall football season with lower prices and more creative promotions, hoping that the camaraderie of watching games with friends overcomes closely-guarded wallets.

The bars are turning to Washington Redskins cheerleaders and more aggressive college alumni promotions as ways to increase patronage during games, since football can contribute a big amount to the bottom line.

Jeff Trilling, manager at Wing Hub in Bethesda, has added two widescreen televisions since it opened last Thanksgiving and may add one more for football season. The restaurant has also added a patio area outside where customers can watch games. The restaurant, which only opened in time to broadcast the last four weeks of the regular football season in 2008, has a maximum capacity of about 115 people. He said there could be a 30 to 40 percent jump in business during football season compared to the offseason.

Ultimately, Trilling believes Wing Hub's prices during the weak economy will help the relatively new restaurant. He said he hasn't seen some customers since the end of the last football season.

"During the football playoffs, we were packed every Saturday and Sunday," Trilling said. "Bottom line, football's going to have a huge impact. Everybody can't wait."

Gary Oullette, manager at Union Jack's in Bethesda for the past four years, hopes that in an effort to save money, more people will be willing to stay closer to home to watch Washington Redskins games. This year, the bar will host an NFL kickoff show on Thursday with hosts from the local ESPN radio station, and will also have Redskins cheerleaders on hand.

The goal is to recreate the atmosphere at FedEx Field in Landover and make people feel like big Redskins fans "obviously for a much different price tag," according to Oullette. Typically, the bar approaches its maximum capacity of 300 during Redskins away games, and gets about 200 patrons on average when the Redskins are at home.

"I think we would expect that the home games would be busier this year than they have been in the past," Oullette said.

Even though Lia's restaurant in Friendship Heights doesn't sell itself as a big destination for football watchers, executive chef Peter Russo said Sunday games can bring an average about 40 additional people to the bar area of the restaurant, out of a total capacity of about 220. He said football viewers are not always appropriate for the kind of ambience Lia's tries to create, but the business is still good to have.

"It's just an added bonus for us," Russo said.

Tommy Joe's restaurant in Bethesda, on the other hand, is trying to provide a different kind of bonus for some patrons. Its owner Alan Pohoryles said the bar sells itself as a primary destination for University of Michigan alumni, and that cups with the Michigan logo will be handed out to patrons for Saturday games. This year, he has been in closer contact with Michigan alumni leaders in Washington, D.C, as well as marking down food and drink prices.

Over the course of a day, weekend football games can add 50 to 200 customers at Tommy Joe's. Pohoryles thinks that more people may be willing to watch games at local bars because they are less inclined to pay for football packages on TV.

"If there's a place they can go watch right up the street and get good drink and food specials, why pay for it?" Pohoryles said.